40 Ha – Yalovo – Bulgaria

Tasks: I was tasked with developing a Keyline layout for this walnut and hazelnut orchard in northern Bulgaria. Concerns were raised that on the moderate to steep slopes of the site the initial grid layout that was based on poor maps and analysis was going to result in increased erosion and endanger machine operators. Once new maps were produced I carried out analysis and then performed an extensive comparison study to determine how Keyline fairs in relation to grid in terms of many factors like coverage, erosion control, tree count, drainage, steepness and others. Once it was clear that Keyline performs better in this particular context, I designed two layouts – one curved and one linear, – of which we ended up choosing the latter due to ease in implementation.